Medical Malpractice: What You Need to Know Before You File a Lawsuit in California

Just because you are inured doesn’t mean you are automatically entitled to file a personal injury claim. Here are the critical elements needed to file a malpractice suit?

Duty: You need to be able to show that a health care provider owed you a duty of care, such that the health care provider was under some obligation to do, or to not do, a particular act, which injured you or a family member.

Breach: You need to be able to prove the health care provider breached the duty owed by acting below the standard of care.

Cause in Fact: You need to be able to demonstrate the health care provider’s negligence was a substantial factor in bringing about the injury.

Proximate Cause: You need to be able to prove a direct link between the negligence and the injury that resulted from that negligence. 

Harm: You must show that you suffered actual loss and/or damage (such as physical injury, emotional injury and/or financial expenses) resulting from the health care provider’s negligence injuries.

An experienced attorney can help determine if your potential claim meets these five elements of negligence needed to prove a medical malpractice case and give you an idea of what your compensation might be. There are a number of factors that play a role in the amount of money that could possibly be recovered. Each medical malpractice case has its own unique factors that help determine what the financial value of the case might be. Here are some of the factors that can play a major role in the amount that might possibly be recovered:

Type and severity of the injuries;

Type of negligence that led to the injuries;

Long-term impact of the injuries on your lifestyle and life; and

Loss of income resulting from the injuries or death.

In a medical malpractice lawsuit you can potentially recover two types of damages: (1) economic, and (2) non-economic damages.

Types of Economic Damage

·      Lost wages,

·      Medical expenses (past and future),

·      Modification to your home or car, and

·      Lost future earnings.

Types of Non-Economic Damages

·      Pain & suffering

·      Loss of enjoyment and companionship

·      Mental anguish

Regardless of the severity of the injury, and even if the negligence resulted in a death; California law limits the amount of non-economic damages that may be awarded in medical malpractice actions. For the first time in decades those limits have increased in California to $350,000 (that’s up from $250,000 prior to 2024). For wrongful death cases the damages are capped at $500,000. Each January those limits will increase until they reach $750,000 and $1 million respectively. After that the limits will increase 2% each year to try to keep up with the cost of inflation.

Also in the Golden State, generally you must file a medical malpractice suit within one year of discovering the injury or within three years from the date of the injury, whichever comes first. Unless an exception applies, these deadlines cannot be extended. The allotted timeline to file a case can pass quickly, so it is important to reach out to an attorney early to find if your case qualifies as medical malpractice and has potential for a financial recovery.